Oppo Camp Future list development (all clubs)

[eth-dog]

I'm procrastinating because I really don't want to study for my uni exam (on 14th of June, why study for that now?) right now, and I came up with analyzing all the lists of the competition and where I think they'll be at in 3-5 years time. I will include Jack Viney on Melbournes list, Joe Daniher on ours and going from the reports that he'll sign with them, Luke McDonald on North Melbournes. I'll try to keep it to 2 teams a day. Here goes anyway:

Adelaide Crows:

Defence

Starting backline
Otten-L Thompson-Kerridge
Jaensch-Talia-Henderson

Depth: Luke Brown, Brodie Martin, Aidan Riley

This defence looks a little light-on in terms of key defenders, Talia looks like he'll be a gem for the Crows, Luke Thompson has shown glimpses at AFL level and Otten top 3 for the Rising Star in 2008 (I think). Kerridge is tough as nails, clearly the replacement for Reilly and Jaensch could be as good as Johncock. All in all, a decent defence, but will need Talia and Thompson to be very stable in the key defensive posts.

Midfield

First choice midfielders/Ruckmen:
Brad Crouch, Nathan van Berlo, Rory Sloane, David MacKay, Bernie Vince, Josh Jenkins, Sam Jacobs, Patrick Dangerfield, Brodie Smith, Mitch Grigg

Depth: Shaun McKernan, Cameron Ellis-Yolmen, Nicholas Joyce, Matthew Wright

This midfield is a fantastic group of players. When you start Dangerfield, Sloane and Vince on the ball, van Berlo and Smith on the wings and Jacobs feeding them the pill, you're worried as an opposition supporter right now, let alone when they peak in 3 years time. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Forwards

Starting forward 6:
MacKay-Tippett-Lyons
Petrenko-Walker-Lynch

Depth: Sam Shaw, Chris Knights

This forward line could be very handy. Lyons looked good under pressure on debut in the Showdown, but lacked impact as the sub, Petrenko seems to have turned the corner in terms of utilizing his talent, Tippett and Walker seemed to have gelled better this season and Lynch is a good 3rd tall. Good forward line.

Where I see them going and what they need

I think the Crows have a very bright future ahead of them, with good to very good players across all 3 lines. The key area I'd say they need to work on is probably key defence, I'm not sold on Luke Thompson, and a player like Shaun McKernan could be trialed in defence, because I think that could help both him and Adelaide in the future.

Brisbane Lions

Defence

Starting defence:
Docherty-Lisle-Golby
Lester-McKeever-Hanley

Depth: James Hawksley, Elliot Yeo

Very Fragile. Lisle could be a good player, as could Lester, McKeever and Docherty. Golby has shown that he's a good player, as has Hanley, but they need to pump games into Docherty, Lisle, Lester and McKeever to make sure they can handle AFL football.

Midfield

First-choice midfielders/ruckmen
Ryan Harwood, Jared Polec, Josh Green, Billy Longer, Daniel Rich, Claye Beams, Matthew Leuenberger, Andrew Raines, Jack Redden, Tom Rockliff

Depth: Cheynee Stiller, Jesse O'Brien, Rohan Bewick

Fantastic midfield. The Redden/Rockliff/Rich/Polec/Beams starting combination will be incredible, all of them are going to be superb midfielders. Raines as a tagger will still be useful, and Harwood and Green are good hard nuts for Brisbane to add some grunt. The berger and Longer a potential fantastic ruck combination.

Forward

Starting forward line
Polkinghorne-Retzlaff-Karnezis
Banfield-Cornelius-Longer

Depth: Patrick Weardon, Dayne Zorko, Callum Bartlett

Potent forward line. Polkinghorne will be their Monfries, you know what he'll give you week in week out, Retzlaff has shown glimpses at AFL level, Karnezis is a fantastic prospect, Banfield could be a very exciting small forward for them, Acorn a solid FF and Longer, well, could be anything.

Where I see them going and what they need
Good midfield and forward lines, but that defence looks really fragile. They need to get another key defender in the next draft or chase an Alex Silvagni, because that's their biggest issue going forward.

 

[fishardansin]

Considering Davis and Bock left them for expansion teams it is understandable that Adelaide a light on in that part of the ground.

Have they used their compensation picks yet? If they haven't I'm guessing they might trade them away for a CHB.

 

[eth-dog]

They need more of a FB rather than a CHB, as Talia is more of that rebounding CHB. Should chase Alex Silvagni, on the outer at Freo and would make that defence look a lot stronger.

 

[Slattery_20]

Adelaide will be right.
Otten isn't getting a game now, McKernan's played some footy back there, they've got Thompson/Talia, and Rutten will be good for another 2 years or so.
If Tippett really does want to leave they'll be stretched a bit thin, but they're OK for the minute and look OK into the future.
And the midfield is pretty well sorted too.


Brisbane are in all sorts.
Their midfield will be "fantastic" ? "Incredible" ? Nah. They've not shown anywhere near that.
At times that combination (with the not insignificant addition of Simon Black) has been barely competent over the last few years.

Rockliff & Rich are good, Redden decent, and that's about where it ends.
Polec is more flanker than midfielder to my eye; Beams is a mediocre kick at best, Stiller's a plain old-fashioned dud, and Green/Harwood are unseen & unproven.